


Not Yet Seen

by farfetched



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Oracles, Seeing the future, Yôkai, what better than a romantic hike up a mountain to see your boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 21:00:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16794667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfetched/pseuds/farfetched
Summary: Koushi, after a bad experience being used only for his future vision, retreats to a mountain, and collects a community of outcasts around him. But they get visitors still, visitors who wish to know truths, or perhaps are merely curious.One of these visitors is Sawamura Daichi, and even though he can see the future, Koushi cannot predict the ways he changes his life.





	Not Yet Seen

He's been before kings and queens, sultans, rajas, emperors. He's been sent all over the world. 

To tell pretty lies. Or even prettier truths. 

Mostly just lies. 

No one actually wants to know the future. They think they know. They think they want to, but they never do; as a child who Saw, he's become acutely aware of how upset people get when he tells them the truth in what he Sees. So he stopped, unless he thought it was what people wanted him to tell them. 

And then, a prissy prince of an arrogant king complains that something the Oracle said didn’t come to pass. Usually they forget, and he moves on, or they believe and make it into their future, but this prince hadn’t, and he condemned Koushi for lying. 

So Koushi takes all his money, finds a small, remote house in the mountains with a few trusted companions to help out, and starts writing. He will still tell truths to those bothered enough to find him; he will, however, refuse to tell lies. Being so out of the way, most of them stop bothering. Letter after letter comes through his door; they all read the same between the lines: ‘Lie to me nicely’. He can’t be bothered anymore. He uses them to light candles to read by at night, and writes more likely truths, to run away from his present. 

Until he realises he writes more than he lives. He sees truths come to pass, and feels sorrow that he did nothing to stop them, or mitigate them. He becomes resentful of this power he holds. 

So he stops. He starts living. He’s written down anything that matters, and he shuts them away in a back room. He shuts his Eyes. He opens his real eyes, watches the storms roll in, watches the mist glide past below them. He watches the sun rise from over the horizon, treks down to the town below sometimes, and spends his evenings playing card games with the people that have come to join him, other misfits and eccentrics. They have trickled in, some invited, some hearing of an Oracle in the clouds. Some seek truths and stay for the serenity. They start to form their own community. 

Hinata glows, and even more so above the clouds, free of harsh opinions and comments. Yamaguchi sees not the future, but through people. Ennoshita, child of human and yokai, no longer has to hide tail, ears, and a keen ear for the other side up here. He’ll often sit with Koushi for hours just talking, with cups of tea, and Koushi will smile when he snidely tells a ghost where to go. 

Yachi spends more of her time as a dog than as a human, and prefers the simplicity. Yaku leaves every full moon to howl, and brings back any catches he makes; he hunts more normally the rest of the time. 

They eke out their existence there, between sky and ground, in the clouds. There is no judgement in the clouds, and no pressure to meet expectations. They are freer up here instead of tied to the ground. 

And Koushi, well. He's happier than he ever was before, draped in riches and drowned in pompous finery. He may be able to See, but he's opted to close his eyes.

* * *

Their visitors come sporadically. They are all cautious initially, until they know the visitor is one of them, or what they seek. Yachi goes out first, then Yamaguchi. No one sees anything outwardly different with either of them, but Yachi can often decide on scent alone if they arrive with bad intentions, and Yamaguchi can see it. They turn away the bad ones, the fame seekers, and journalists. They allow the ones that merely want truths, although whether Koushi will give it to them is another matter. Sometimes it is a grieving relative, wanting a connection through Ennoshita, to which he will occasionally acquiesce. Once, it was someone spurned by society and seeking refuge. That is how they gain Kenma, not supernatural but never fitting into society at large. He adores painting; Hinata adores watching him, and starts painting with him. Kenma stays, and paints enough for them to sell when one of them trek down to the town. 

They get by, with or without the visitors. Koushi finds the truth seekers onerous, but he will listen. Between the visitors, he writes untruthful fortunes to put into cookies. It is enough to keep him amused. 

One day, there are three of them. It's been surprisingly close to the last, only two weeks ago; a man begging for a cure to his daughter's incurable disease. Koushi told him to fill her days with happiness, rather than leaving her facing her illness alone to trek up mountains to seek impossibilities. 

But the three of them come; Yachi doesn't smell too much bad intent to chase them off, and Yamaguchi doesn't necessarily like the idea of them, but Koushi is feeling generous. He surveys them as they stand before him. 

The first has a shock of yellow hair and an undercut fashion. Tattoos peek out from under his sleeves, and when he talks, a piercing clicks against his teeth. He seeks to know whether he will succeed in football, and whether his team will win the Olympics. Koushi tells him that all depends on how much he practices. It is a form of the truth, he thinks, although not the pretty one this man clearly wants to hear. 

The man, who belatedly introduces himself as Terushima, pushes for a solid answer; Koushi, now irritated by his very presence, tells him that it will go to penalties, and penalties are exempt from any kind of future vision. Terushima storms back outside, and Koushi thinks _good riddance_. 

The second looks intimidating at first, but acts shy, his head angled down. The third has to push him forward, long brown hair falling into his face, and he barely makes eye contact as he asks his question: _will I ever overcome this anxiety_. 

Koushi takes pity on him. 

_No, it will never leave you_ , he starts, which gets him a concerned glance. _But it is your choice whether it shall chain you unopposed, or if you shall fight it. In constantly challenging yourself in small ways, you shall expand your horizons._

He doesn't have to See. 

His trick is that now, he barely uses his future sight, his legacy as an Oracle, because common sense often works just as well. People do not need to know the future; they need reassurance that they are on the right path, and how to organically make it to their goals. 

He turns to the third, an unremarkable looking man, brown hair cropped short, perhaps a little taller than average. _And what future do you seek?_ Koushi asks. The man smiles. 

_Nothing, I just like hiking,_ he returns. It takes Koushi by surprise. 

_Nothing? You walk all this way knowing an Oracle awaits you here, and you think of no questions?_ Koushi asks, dumbfounded. It’s simply not possible. He’s had people be polite before, and then ask things, and part of him is certain this human is the same, but then there is another part of him that feels it would be an incorrect assessment of this man. 

_There is nothing I need to know,_ is all the man replies, a firm smile on his face that trips Koushi into believing this may indeed be a truth. 

_Then if you require nothing from the Oracle, you are welcome back any time._. 

He doesn’t mean to say it; he’s sure this human is pure human, and few of them wish to be up here. But the man, who introduces himself then as Sawamura Daichi, nods as though he would indeed be returning. 

Koushi, despite himself, is intrigued.

* * *

He comes alone the next time. It's a month or so later, just when Koushi has started to think a visit wouldn't happen. He's never had anyone not want his services, not want to know the future. It’s been playing on his mind; did Sawamura think him a fraud? Or was it genuine, that he didn’t feel like he needed to know?

To this end, he questions Sawamura on it extensively when he arrives, gratefully taking the served tea from Ennoshita, who leaves with a whisk of his tail and smirk befitting his yokai heritage. Koushi doesn't have to like the implied meaning of the smirk, though. 

He tries, at first, to goad Sawamura, asking him various questions, and whether he wants to know. He keeps waiting for Sawamura to slip up, to say he wants to know, but it doesn't happen. Eventually, he just asks why Sawamura doesn't want to have an insight into the future. 

Sawamura smiles at him softly.   
_I prefer to live life as it is. Knowing the future is cheating, isn't it? It's more fun not knowing._

Koushi reels back from that, stunned. He stares at the first human to not seek knowledge of the future. The first human to not hold Koushi as nothing more than a miracle of future sight, the Oracle humans have always claimed him to be. The first human to return, seeking nothing more than companionship. 

He likes hiking. 

Koushi didn't know humans like him existed. Even Kenma had asked whether anyone would accept him truly. But this man, Sawamura Daichi had hiked up to their establishment for no other reason than he enjoyed hiking, no other reason than to support his friends with their questions, and returned of his own volition, but still with no questions. 

He doesn’t think he knows how to be someone outside of his destiny as the Oracle. He’s a commodity, a useful one, fought over and coveted, but never as Sugawara Koushi, merely as an Oracle. He is rare and valuable, he’s always been told, which is just another way of saying ‘give yourself to us, because you are alone without us’. 

But this human, Sawamura, seems to think he’s interesting, even without future sight. Outside of this home he’s made for himself and those others who find themselves spurned or detesting society and all its restraints, he’s never been valued as a person. 

_Shall I show you around, Sawamura-san?_ he asks, because he is dumbstruck. He himself doesn't quite know how much rests on that question. 

Sawamura smiles warmly.   
_I'd like that. And please, just call me Daichi._

Ennoshita's smirk makes sense, now.

* * *

The visits are approximately monthly. Koushi laps up hearing about the outside world, and Daichi's explanations of things. They get on well, Koushi is surprised to find, and looks forward to each visit. Whenever he gets a visitor that is not Daichi, he is paradoxically irritated. 

Ennoshita says they are 'courting'. Koushi sends him the most withering look he can muster, but is unable to stop himself hoping. Yamaguchi has started smiling at him randomly, which he's sure is connected. He can't tell if it's piteous or happy. He chooses to ignore it instead. 

Koushi starts to lose track of the number of visits. Once, he treks down with Daichi, with the excuse of needing supplies. The extra time together hardly hurts, but it flies by so fast; Daichi gets on his bus and Koushi is left with a hike up the mountain trying not to wish he hadn’t. It is selfish, he curtly reminds himself, to want to pull Daichi further from his normal human life. 

He’d love to invite Daichi to stay. He already gets on well with many of the rest of them, helping Yaku hunt (and, behind his back, getting glowing praise from the hunter, a rare thing indeed), and helping to burn off some of Hinata’s energy teaching him some sports. Koushi sees him relaxing in the sun, eyes closed and blissful, and wants him to stay. 

But he shouldn’t. He can’t. 

Because Koushi could not move for him. He cannot ask Daichi to move for him, either. 

Although, when a storm rolls in while Daichi is distracted, flurries of snow already started to cover the path when he realises, it's easy enough to ask him to stay. Just one night. Until the storm dies down, until it's safe to descend. An awful part of Koushi wants the storm to continue forever. He only allows it through certain knowledge that it will not. 

Daichi hums at the suggestion, looking out into the gathering storm clouds, and seems to come to a sensible decision in very little time. He doesn’t try to argue, at least, and Koushi thanks every deity above for that. Maybe he even wants to stay, wants to see what happens after night falls on their household. 

Mostly, food and games, then sleep. They have candles for light, although Hinata with his shirt off adds an ambience to the room at large, and he’s happy enough usually to chill with Kenma. Some of them go straight off to sleep, retiring to their room as soon as dinner is done, mostly the ones with more physical jobs; Yaku sleeps for ten hours or heaven forgive them all. 

But this night, a newcomer sat around the table with them, no one seems so eager to leave. They’ve had dinner, a rabbit stew with copious slices of bread, and Daichi offers to help clear up, continuing to endear himself to the residents. Koushi can’t let him clear up at least ten people’s things alone, so he ropes Ennoshita into it – payback for all the smirking – and throws the leftovers in a bowl on the floor for Yachi to eat when she wants to. She’s more interested in weaving around Daichi’s feet, yipping at him to play with her. 

It’s odd. Yachi is usually shy – less so as her dog form, but still to a certain extent, particularly with people who know she’s not merely a dog – but with Daichi, she seems to have warmed up to him remarkably quickly. They all have, to their own various extents; Kenma will comment on things when he’s in the room, when usually he’ll avoid new people with vigour absent from the rest of his life. Hinata seems calmed somewhat by his presence. 

All of it adds up that Koushi just wants him to become part of the group. 

Yaku, clearly more than intrigued at the first overnight visitor they’ve ever had, forgoes sleep for once and brings out some of his prize whiskey, and the less prize whiskey, which he offers to everyone else. They bring the cards out, drinks flow, and the storm rattles on outside, ignored wholly. It is raucous, and loud. Koushi doesn’t recall much after his first two glasses; they tell him he’s cheating when he accidentally uses future sight to help himself, and then they tell Yamaguchi he’s cheating for reading people too well. Koushi, never one to hold his liquor well, ends up falling asleep. He forgets he’s never laid out of the futon for Daichi to sleep on, and well. 

He’s not sure if he intensely regrets that the next day, or thanks his forgetfulness, when he wakes up to the tail end of the storm petering out through the shutters, a dim light filtering through, and Daichi sound asleep next to him. 

He’s supposed to be the Oracle, the all-seeing, the only one in the world who can see the future, but he never saw this coming, even when he was using his powers. He’s never seen himself really, only abstractly, and he know that futures splinter like bad wood, but he still. Never thought he’d be here, never thought he’d fall in love with a human, never thought that human would stay, never thought he’d fall for anyone, if he’s honest. He doesn’t know how this is supposed to work. Coveted and protected his whole life before retreating up here, he’d never had the chance to experience anything like this, and he’s not even sure he would have. 

It’s been a year or so since Daichi first hiked up with his friends. He talks about them sometimes, and Koushi likes hearing about Asahi – the shy one – overcoming his problems, and likes to take a bit of credit for that. He likes listening when he talks about Terushima being annoying, and ways he gets around it. He likes listening when Daichi talks about his family, his sisters spread over the globe and his mother and father here in Japan. He likes listening to tales of Daichi’s travels, all over the place, step-wells in India, Machu Picchu, a series of mountains in the Andes, the Sahara, and imagining all the places he’s gone, and could yet go. 

Koushi thinks, as he stares at Daichi’s face, so close and yet, not close at all, that he couldn’t possibly move away from here. Couldn’t abandon what he’s got here. But there are no jobs here, and it’s not a way of life many humans would pick, he wouldn’t have thought, spending their days on top of a mountain with a group of yokai and outcasts, eccentrics. 

He couldn’t trap Daichi here either, wouldn’t dream of keeping so much potential still on one mountain. He’s got to be happy with this how it is now, one visit about every month, and yearning from afar. He’s not made for this, he doesn’t think, as his eyes droop. But equally, in this time now, he can pretend that he is. 

He doesn’t have to decide yet. Doesn’t have to resign himself yet.

* * *

Ennoshita tells him he’s being stupid, as they stand and wave Daichi off back down the mountain. 

_Just say something, I can’t stand it_ , he remarks snidely. Normally Koushi would brush him off with a snarky comment, but he’s tired, and thoughts of having to give up hope have been swirling around his head all morning. He sighs heavily. 

_It’s not fair to make him choose_ , he murmurs, watching his disappearing form. Ennoshita snorts loudly, and folds his arms. 

_He’s an adult, he’ll make his own choices. All you have to do is give him enough information to make them, and time._ Ennoshita says, and claps a hand heavily on his shoulder twice – probably payback for all the times Koushi has punched him ‘lightly’ by accident – and leaves. Koushi watches the shape of Daichi’s back weave back down the mountain path. 

He’d seemed to linger longer than Koushi had expected that morning, a certain space between words, actions. Saying he should go but not moving. Koushi had to bite his lip every time to not ask him to stay just a little longer, to think of fake fortunes to write, to pose for one of Kenma’s paintings, to help Yaku with hunting, to just sit and watch the world go by with him. 

All his instincts told him that in a normal situation, waking up next to someone would be awkward. It felt a little awkward, but despite the early awakening, Koushi had still beat Daichi to getting out of bed, so perhaps he’d not remembered it at all. Part of him wanted to run down the mountain and tell him. Another part wanted Daichi to never return so he could be rid of those feelings, and then realised it would not be that simple. These kind of things clung like glue, never so easily shed. 

Irritated by his muddled thoughts, he took himself back to the dining room, the largest space they had, donned his favourite old formal robes he’d kept for sentimentality, and practiced yosakoi until his legs and arms hurt. 

It’s invigorating, putting his frustration with it into making the naruko sound, and twirling to the best of his limited ability. He was never that good at this, but he’d always enjoyed it. Being so focused on the present, there is no future when he is dancing. He loves it for its ability to absorb him totally – or near enough. 

He’s been aware of the silhouette at the door for a while, assuming it was Kenma – who often liked to watch – or perhaps Yamaguchi. When he finishes one final hashed routine, barely remembered from ceremonial days of copying the dancers, rarely allowed to get himself involved, he turns to ask their opinion. 

Daichi stands there instead. He’s just looking, standing there, and at first Koushi thinks it’s a mirage, a vision of a wanting brain. But he smiles, eventually, and proclaims that he didn’t know Koushi danced. 

_Not well_ , Koushi muses, puzzled by his presence. _Just a pastime_.   
_Well enough, Suga_ , Daichi says, then hesitates just a little. _Next time, can- can I stay the night again? Save me walking up and down in one night_. He’s not quite looking at Koushi when he says it, at least not in the eyes. He’s sure Daichi is observing the patterns on his robe, intricate and delicate, and nothing like Koushi at all. 

Koushi smiles wickedly, but his heart is aquiver.   
_Trying to get back in my bed, Daichi?_ he jokes. He enjoys the sight of Daichi’s face, cheeks wind-brushed red already, gain even more colour.   
_I- wouldn’t be- opposed, exactly…_ , Daichi murmurs quietly. Koushi just stops. _If that is amenable to you?_

And finally he looks at Koushi, sees his stunned face and mistakes it for dread or worse. Koushi doesn’t need any kind of vision to see how this will play out. 

_That’s perfectly acceptable to me, Daichi._ More than, he thinks to himself, but sees comfort, in-between the embarrassment, settle onto Daichi’s face. He smiles, face still red, but at ease. He nods, to himself it seems. 

Daichi excuses himself shortly after, saying he really does need to go, but the same bitter taste of his same leaving isn’t in Koushi’s mouth when he watches him go. It’s hope anew, and it tastes sweet.

* * *

He swears the time between visits gets shorter. It seems to be about every two weeks, now, and sometimes, Daichi stays not one night but two. It becomes an unspoken rule that Daichi will sleep in his bed next to him, and Koushi sleeps well those nights. 

But, he has temptations, now. 

He wants to see. Wants to open his Eyes and see, see if this is likely to continue, likely to end well should he say something. He knows he shouldn’t, but the temptation grows with every visit, every time he awakes watching Daichi’s sleeping face, and with every smirk of Ennoshita’s. 

He can’t let himself fail like this. 

He strategically manages to clear the room after breakfast. Daichi lingers like he always seems to now, having to go but perhaps not wanting to – Koushi is relying on him not wanting to. The others drift off, and Koushi makes him and Daichi a cup of tea, and sits at the table, and takes a deep breath. Daichi raises an eyebrow. 

_You make me nervous when you do that_ , he jokes, but Koushi forges on regardless, a death grip on the cup in front of him, the burning settling him to now. 

Daichi, you’re making me want to See again. He murmurs it like he carries a secret. Daichi's confused face makes him laugh, though.   
_You never went blind._ He just sounds so puzzled, his face a perfect picture of bewilderment that has Koushi smiling. 

_Not physically Seeing, Daichi._ He taps his temple twice, and sees realisation dawn.   
_What am I making you want to see, then?_

Koushi takes another deep breath, and forces himself to look Daichi in the eye.   
_You. Whether this works out_. Daichi opens his mouth. Koushi beats him to it. _I haven’t, yet. I’m taking a leaf out of your book; living it. I’d rather find out myself, if you would be amenable to that._

He doesn’t think the answer will be no, but he’s nervous regardless. Daichi takes a long moment to process it, taking a long sip of his tea. With each passing second, Koushi’s grip on the cup gets tighter and starts to shake more. 

_By ‘this’, I’m assuming you mean a relationship. To which I would be invested in treading that course with you,_ he eventually says, and Koushi’s breath leaves him all at once, such that he feels light-headed. _Can I move up here to stay?_

Koushi blinks, but also-  
 _What about your job? Your family? Your house?_ He feels like perhaps he’s pushed Daichi into making that choice, by inherently conveying that he couldn’t live anywhere else, but Daichi just- laughs. Hearty laughter. Koushi feels like he’s missed something vital. 

_Suga, I’m a travel writer. I can live anywhere. My family are all about the globe. I won’t stay all the time, but this is more like home than most places down there, now._ he says once he can speak, smiling at Koushi. _I’ll need help to bring some of my things up here, though._

Koushi can’t think of anything better. 

_Then, welcome to your new home_ , he remarks; Daichi grins like he’s been waiting for those words all his life. 

Koushi can’t wait to explore this new life. He doesn’t need to See to know he’s going to enjoy it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a pinch hit for writedeku on tumblr, for the fantasy Haikyuu exchange! I've had fun writing it, and I hope you enjoy it. Sorry it's late!


End file.
